YourSpace: Irondequoit Public Library News

November 4th is two weeks away. We’ll continue to receive information on national, state, and local elections until the minute we cast our vote. Sometimes, too much information can be a bad thing (yep, a librarian said that). We’ve compiled a few of our favorite election resources. If you’re overwhelmed, confused, unsure, or just need a place to start, check out one, or all, of these sites:

For information on presidential candidates, Project Vote Smart is a great place to start. This site covers ALL presidential candidates, not just the Democratic and Republican candidates. For each, Project Vote Smart provides biographical information, detailed voting records (when available), issue positions, endorsements, speeches, interest group ratings, and campaign finances. Project Vote Smart also includes some information on state and local candidates.

Public Agenda has created a Voter’s Survival Guide for Election 2008. The guide provides key facts about current issues in an effort to help voters get past the spin. These issues include the economy, health care, climate change, and more.

FactCheck.org is a “nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.” Factcheck provides analysis and a context for most of the issues we hear presidential candidates discuss in debates, speeches, and ads.

For in-depth information on the presidential candidate’s specific proposals, visit their official websites: John McCain, Barack Obama, Charles Baldwin, Robert Barr, Jr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader

The Monroe County Board of Elections offers a very cool tool for voters. Login to find your voter registration status, your polling place, a list of your elected officials, district information, and perhaps most useful, a copy of the 2008 ballot you will see when you go to vote. This includes your choice of national, state, and local officials, and is a great way to find out your district numbers.

2009 Candidate Guide from the Democrat and Chronicle allows users to find the races for their districts by entering an address and zip code. It starts out with the presidential candidates. Click the Next button to move to the next race. The D&C includes responses from most of the candidates on issues of importance to New York and Rochester. To find out more about local candidates, you could also check out their campaign websites. For most candidates, you should be able to locate their site, or more information about them, by searching Google with their name and “new york”. For example: rick dollinger new york